Andrea Corr as Jane Eyre

The Independent (Ireland) talks about the casting of Andrea Corr as Jane Eyre in an upcoming production of Jane Eyre (in the Alan Stanford adaptation) in Dublin:

It is perhaps his most inspired piece of casting since Bruce Willis played Bruce in What Just Happened (by the way, we all know what just happened to Michael Colgan -- his love for theatre led him, via Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett, to an OBE, but I digress). The artistic director extraordinaire of the Gate has cast Andrea Corr as Jane Eyre in his new production at -- well, where else? -- the Gate. (...)
The talks have been fruitful and after several meetings with Andrea and director Alan Stanford, Colgan was able to tell me "Andrea is going to play opposite Stephen Brennan as Lord [sic] Rochester in a special production of Jane Eyre at the Gate this Christmas." (Barry Egan)

Well, we don't know about Christmas, but what we do know is that the production opens next November 4. The blogosphere is now echoing the news: Enchanted Serenity of Period Films, Andrea Corr Network...

AA Gill reviews ITV's U Be Dead in The Times:

Did stalkers exist before mobile phones and the internet? I can’t imagine Jane Eyre having a stalker sending salacious missives deliv-ered by hand: “Oh, I can’t bear it, it’s from Mr Stalker! That’s twice in six months!”

The Chicago Sun-Times presents the Lifeline Theatre's production of Wuthering Heights like this:

I've long been a sucker for Emily Brontë's tale of love and agony on the Yorkshire moors. And who better to adapt this novel for the stage than Lifeline veterans Christina Calvit and director Elise Kauzlaric, who teamed earlier for "Mariette in Ecstasy"? (Hedy Weiss)

A letter to The Anniston Star happens to mention Heathcliff in a somewhat twisted context:

I think that somewhere, somehow in your youth, you starred in a stage adaptation of Wuthering Heights, naturally playing the role of Heathcliff. The strange thing is I always had Heathcliff as a dyed-in-the-wool, far-left Democrat until he became a gentleman of substantial means, at which time he jumped the track and became a Tory. (T.J. Summers)

If Terry Eagleton reads this he will have to revision his Myths of Power ASAP.

The Star (Malaysia) talks about the Edinburgh International Book Festival (you know, globalization is the name of the game). We are interested in this bit about A.S. Byatt's talk:

One of the most interesting and thought-provoking events I attended was an appearance by A.S. Byatt who read from and discussed her latest novel, The Children’s Book, a Man Booker shortlisted title last year. (...)
She provided new perspectives on a host of subjects by sharing thoughts like how she felt that Hans Christian Andersen was a sadist (she never got over reading The Little Mermaid!), that she identifies with the persecution of children in novels such as Oliver Twist and Jane Eyre and that she feels the Orange Prize is sexist (it’s for writings by women). (Janet Tay)

Bildungsroman reviews Jandy Nelson's The Sky is Everywhere; Nazione Indiana posts about Charlotte Brontë (in Italian); ScribbleManiac revisits the trip by the Brontë family to Bolton Abbey in 1833; What Does Your heart Desire? posts about Sue Blackwell's Remnants exhibition at the Brontë Parsonage. MissionVerdopolitan has discovered Google Search Story and posts three: Patrick Brontë, Charlotte Brontë and Branwell Brontë. Finally the author Michelle Helliwell confesses her love for Wuthering Heights.

So how did Ms. Brontë make me want to read and re-read a book full of characters I hate? Don’t know. But I keep going back to find out.

Categories: Art-Exhibitions, Brontëites, Jane Eyre, Theatre